The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to diagnostic imaging systems, and more particularly to x-ray fluoroscopy imaging systems.
Diagnostic imaging systems are used in many different applications and can provide anatomical and/or physiological information for a patient. One type of diagnostic imaging system is an x-ray fluoroscopy system that acquires real-time moving images of the internal structures of a patient using a fluoroscope. Fluoroscopy has many uses in diagnostic and image-guided procedures, including general-purpose fluoroscopy, vascular imaging, etc.
In conventional fluoroscopy systems, different modes of operation are typically provided including a mode for viewing images in real-time (often referred to as a fluoro mode) and another mode for capturing images at the point (spatial/temporal) of interest for storing and later analysis (often referred to as a digi-record or digital record mode). Thus, radiologists must use the fluoro mode to observe evidence of pathology, and then initiate digital record exposures to subsequently record the images. An alternative process is for the radiologist to observe a patient during fluoro mode and immediately stop exposure and save the last image of the sequence. An additional alternative process for the radiologist is to use the fluoro mode to observe the image sequence, then start a fluoro sequence save to store the sequence once completed.
In fluoroscopic exams with fast moving anatomy, the time to switch modes and begin recording of images to record the pathology of interest is very fast and may be less than one or two seconds. Accordingly, initiating a digital record is difficult for these procedures, such as swallow or speech pathology studies, where the contrast material is moving quickly. The transition from the fluoro mode to the record mode typically requires approximately two seconds. Thus, the radiologist often must repeat the procedure (including multiple swallows of barium) and take numerous exposures to time the acquisition properly, thereby adding time to the overall scan and increasing patient dose. When using the last image hold save, user timing to stop the sequence at the proper moment is again required.
Thus, saving of a fluoro sequence often requires the radiologist to repeat the procedure twice at a minimum at a minimum, once to observe, and then a second time to record the pathology of interest. This sequence is generally limited to 10-20 seconds with the initial data deleted once a storage maximum is reached, such that a user must time the fluoro sequence carefully to avoid losing data.